Adeptus Mechanicus
“There is no truth in flesh, only betrayal. There is no strength in flesh, only weakness. There is no constancy in flesh, only decay. There is no certainty in flesh but death.” — Credo Omnissiah The domains of the Adepts of Mars exist semi-autonomously within the Imperium, an empire within an empire, a right given to them by the Emperor Himself at the very dawn of recorded history. They are the guardians of technology, the magi of machinery. It is theirs alone to know how to coax forth the life of a sun in a plasma containment field, how best to apply the blessings of activation and maintenance to the massive Titan war machines, how to ensure that the engines of the Emperor’s starships run smooth and true. The Adepts of Mars worship the Emperor in the guise of the Machine God. To them, mankind is in a fallen state that was at the height of its powers during the Dark Age of Technology, when the secrets of the universe were known to all. Knowledge then, lies in the past and the Adeptus Mechanicus will go to any lengths to uncover the great secrets of antiquity, scouring the universe for any scrap of information from their holy book---the Standard Template Construct system. They hold that, were the STC to be restored in full, it would reveal all of the powers of the hallowed past. The Tech-Priests venerate machines and regard them as superior to flesh. Many of them believe that the Machine God desires them to shed this weakness and so they often sport numerous bionic modifications. These mechanical enhancements add to their air of otherness and further help to set them apart from the rest of humanity. Through rune and hammer, the Tech-Adepts are the wards of the arcane and they guard their knowledge jealously. But for all their might, they are not beyond the watchful gaze of the Inquisition. 'In the Calixis Sector' Most agencies of the Imperium in the Calixis Sector view the Adeptus Mechanicus as a singular, monolithic organization that thinks and acts with one logical mind, each Tech-Priest moving in lockstep with the others towards the inscrutable goals set down by the Cult of the Machine God. However, the truth is something more complex. In the Calixis Sector, the Adeptus Mechanicus has many internecine challenges of its own. Over the centuries since the Sector’s founding, the Calixian Mechanicus has been riven by factionalism and rarely has been truly united. It is said that even the machine altars of the Calixis forge worlds conspire and whisper with secrets amongst the formulae and schematics normally transmitted from one to the other. Despite these difficulties, the Adeptus Mechanicus is nevertheless firmly entrenched in the Calixis Sector, a vital part of the operations of nearly every planet, and a distinct, significant power of its own that commands respect. This is due in no small part to the strong leadership that has guided the Calixian Mechanicus over a millennia, centered around the influential and tradition-bound Forge Masters of the Lathe Worlds. 'Sects of the Calixian Mechanicus' The Priesthood of Mars contains many sub-groups and organizations. These range from the Titan Legions to the Knight Worlds, from the Theoriticians and Lectors who catalogue and excavate ancient knowledge to the Lexmechanics and Calculus Logi who analyze and craft the holy code-rituals enshrined in the machine altars, from the Electro-Priests and Skitarii who defend the mighty forge worlds to the Magos of the Ordo Reductor who eliminate the enemies of the Machine God---the methods of serving the Omnissiah are vast and varied. The Calixis Sector itself also encompasses a number of unique additional sects, cults, and divisions. *College Cult Graviticus *Divisio Investigatus *Techsorcists *Lords Dragon **Logicutioners **Magos Juris **Dragon Secutorii *Divine Light of Sollex *Auxilia Myrmidon *Disciples of Thule *Explorators 'Warriors of the Calixis Mechanicus' In the Calixis Sector, the fiefdoms of the Machine God maintain a strong martial tendency as befits their origins as domains first conquered and won during the Angevin Crusade. As well as the awesome might of the legendary Titan Legions, it is the Skitarii Tech-Guard, also known as the Forge Guard, that form the rank and file of the armed forces of both the Adeptus Mechanicus and the ancient War Houses linked to the Cult Mechanicus. The Skitarii serve to defend their master’s domains and carry the priesthood’s wrath to their enemies. The Lathe System and their dominion territories are known to maintain large and heavily armed Tech-Guard forces to protect their interests, commanded by the feared Secutors and Magos Militant, tech-priests devoted purely to the science of war and the art of destruction. It is also whispered among the Omnissiah’s faithful that more ancient and terrible forces than the Skitarii can also be found in the secret holdfast of the Panopticon Orbital Station hidden at the center of the Lathes’ treacherous asteroid belts. Here it is claimed the Myrmidons walk; masters of the mysterious Ordo Reductor, they are said to be towering and fearful figures decked out in blood-red and black robes, bearing the forbidden weapons of a bygone age. Even wilder legends speak of this place as the home of mech-assassin covenants and the dread Magister Samadhi---beings who most Magos consider no more than a dark myth. Some even speculate that the Panopticon’s rulers are members of a secret order known as the Lords Dragon, an ancient and powerful cabal of Archmagos tasked with policing the Mechanicus itself. Whatever the truth of these tales, the Panopticon is regarded as a bellicose and dangerous place, and a destination of perilous pilgrimage for those of the Omnissiah’s faithful who wish to perfect the lores of weaponcraft. Not all who journey there return, and those that do are often darkly changed by the secrets they have learned.